A residency across Townsville High schools created new wearable artwork, reflecting the student’s respect and pride in their Indigenous heritage and cultures.

What

People, Culture and Country is an artist-in-residence project managed by Christina Papadimitriou to develop collaborative wearable artwork based on students’ culture. In 2018, the project involved 65 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from seven Townsville high schools.

Through a series of workshops, students worked with Indigenous artists to learn traditional and contemporary skills and techniques, developing their wearable art pieces through painting, printmaking and weaving. Students also met regularly with their art teachers and other support staff to develop ideas and complete their artworks.

The project culminated in an exhibition at the Riverway Arts Centre in September 2018 of 10 collaboratively-made artworks. Fifty photographs featuring the students modelling their wearable artworks were also on display, along with 11 short videos documenting the project and the artworks.

A catalogue commemorated the event and included the stories behind each of the artworks. An education resource kit was also developed to enable students to engage with the artworks on a deeper level.

Arts Queensland investment

The AIR program 2017-18, supported through Arts Queensland and Department of Education, connected artists and arts organisations with students and teachers.

Outcomes

The nature of the project encouraged student collaboration, communication and team problem-solving skills. Students gained more confidence in themselves and their culture, from “sharing ideas, beliefs and ‘culture’ in a non-judgmental environment”.

Students felt an increased connection with family, culture, and country. One teacher commented that the students:

“…learnt more about themselves and where they come from. At the start some were very vague about where their family was from, at the end they had spoken to family and could tell me about their family history”.

The project involved local artists as mentors to the students.

Students were motivated to attend school to participate in the project with a reported 56% increase in overall attendance in Semester 2 (when the project began) compared to Semester 1.

The short Intensive workshops had two or more schools coming together to learn and participate. This supported students to make new friends and learn more about each other.

The exhibition (the wearable artworks, catalogue, and videos) was a great way to share Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures with the wider community.

Videos of students and artwork were shown on BushTV.

Feedback

We worked really hard on our piece. Thank you to the team for making the idea come alive! We love to share our stories and culture through any way possible. We love it when people want to listen and learn about our history. Year 10 student

All of the workshops were successful, they each brought a unique and highly skilled process to the students. They also engaged in cultural conversations which was very enriching. Teacher

The simple frock (“Lost” – based on the Stolen Generation), absolutely shattered me with emotion. The statements are very powerful and reminds us of our ancient Indigenous culture and its importance in today’s modern world. Audience member

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